CircuiTree articles from February 2009

CircuiTree archives from February 2009

The velocity of innovation.(Lead Wire)
February 1, 2009... One of the most basic and natural concepts behind the U.S. economy and its financial markets is the idea of the velocity of money. Simply stated, it says that as money funnels its way through the economy it actual grows in value. An initial USD...

IPC releases PCB industry results for November 2008.(The Wire)(printed circuit boards shipments report)(Brief article)
February 1, 2009... Bannockburn, Ill.--According to IPC's North American PCB Statistical Program, for November 2008, rigid PCB shipments were down 5.8 percent and bookings were down 17.3 percent from November 2007. Rigid PCB shipments were up 2.4 percent...

2008 HKPCA and IPC show opens.(The Wire)
February 1, 2009... Shenzhen -- The 2008 International Printed Circuit and Electronics Assembly Fair (2008 HKPCA & IPC Show) opened, and the seventh edition of its series staged the largest ever in scale. A total of 440 exhibitors from the U.S., the U.K., Germany,...

Isola adjusts production based on market conditions.(The Wire)
February 1, 2009... Chandler, Ariz. -- Isola Group, SARL, announced the closure of its Fremont, Calif., operation, eff ective February 18, 2009. Isola is adjusting capacity to bring output in line with the declining North America market.

Park reports third quarter results, declares cash dividend.(The Wire)
February 1, 2009... Melville, N.Y.--For Q3 FY 09, Park Electrochemical reported sales of USD 49,166,000, compared to sales of USD 63,653,000 for Q3 FY 08. For the first nine months of 2008, Park's sales were USD 164,565,000, compared to sales of USD 181,271,000...

Proposed RoHS revisions released.(The Wire)(Restriction of Hazardous Substances )(Brief article)
February 1, 2009... Bannockburn, Ill.--The European Union Commission released the much-anticipated review of the Restriction of Hazardous Substances (RoHS) Directive without any additional banned substances. Over the past two years, IPC conducted steadfast...

North American semiconductor equipment industry posts November book-to-bill ratio of 1.00.(The Wire)
February 1, 2009... San Jose, Calif. -- For November 2008 (three-month average basis), North America-based manufacturers of semiconductor equipment posted USD 805 million in orders and a book-to-bill ratio of 1.00, according to SEMI's Book-to-Bill Report. The...

Endicott Interconnect expands with U.K. office, appoints European sales director.(The Wire)(Steve Payne appointed)(Brief article)
February 1, 2009... Endicott, N.Y.--Endicott Interconnect Technologies, Inc. (EI), created EI Technologies UK Limited, a wholly owned subsidiary of EI located in Chelmsford, U.K. Steve Payne was named director of European sales, reporting to Michael Hills, SVP of...

Electra Polymers announces strengthened U.S. distribution.(The Wire)
February 1, 2009... Kent, England -- Electra Polymers appointed Toryon Technologies Inc as exclusive distributor for its LPI and PWB ink materials in the South East region of North America. Toryon has distributed Electra Polymers PWB inks for over 15 years.

IPC offers free Webinars to IPC APEX exhibitors.(The Wire)
February 1, 2009... Bannockburn, Ill.--IPC will off er a series of free Webinars designed exclusively for exhibitors at the 2009 IPC APEX EXPO[TM], March 31 to April 2, at the Mandalay Bay Resort and Convention Center in Las Vegas. Starting December 15, IPC will...

WISE makes sale to FUSION India.(The Wire)
February 1, 2009... Parma, Italy -- WISE Worldwide Enterprise srl sold an Aluflexstar machine and a Cleanstar unit to FUSION India. This order from the Indian market was possible thanks to the cooperation with its Indian agent, Lords Systems & Service, who...

Prototron Circuits purchases etch strip line from Kuttler automation.(The Wire)
February 1, 2009... Redmond, Wash. -- Prototron Circuits, Inc., upgraded its production equipment with a new alkaline etch and strip line from the German company Kuttler. Solid craftsmanship, state of the art design, and easy serviceability guided Prototron...

Park Electrochemical announces workforce reduction at Nelco Products Business Unit.(The Wire)
February 1, 2009... Melville, N.Y. -- Park Electrochemical Corp. announced a workforce reduction at its Nelco Products Pte. Ltd. high-technology electronics circuitry materials and advanced composite materials subsidiary located in Singapore (Nelco Singapore). As...

Dymax and Partner Pak partner.(The Wire)(Brief article)
February 1, 2009... Torrington, Conn. -- Dymax partnered with Partner Pak, Inc., pairing Dymax's adhesives with Partner Pak's utilization of light to seal clamshells and blister packaging. Dymax's products for sealing PET, RPET, and PVC plastic packaging now carry...

Christopher Associates to distribute Tonsan photovoltaic sealants in North America.(The Wire)
February 1, 2009... Santa Ana, Calif. -- Christopher Associates Inc. made an exclusive agreement to distribute sealants, bonding agents, and potting compounds for photovoltaic and other solar applications manufactured by Tonsan, China's leading manufacturer of...

Huenecke new IPC CIO.(The Wire)
February 1, 2009... Bannockburn, Ill.--Arthur Huenecke joined IPC in the newly created position of chief information officer. In this role, Huenecke will be responsible for establishing information technology strategy and design, strengthening and leveraging IPC's...

Cadence reports completion of accounting investigation and third quarter results.(The Wire)
February 1, 2009... San Jose, Calif. -- Cadence Design Systems, Inc., announced that the Audit Committee of its board of directors, in conjunction with special counsel, completed its previously announced investigation of the recognition of revenue related to...

DuPont takes further action to strengthen company's competitiveness in 2009, provides earnings guidance.(The Wire)
February 1, 2009... Wilmington, Del. -- DuPont announced further actions to address current market challenges and strengthen the company's competitiveness in 2009, including a continued focus on maximizing cash flow. DuPont also provided earnings guidance for Q4...

IDTechEx announces Printed Electronics Award winners.(The Wire)(Awards list)
February 1, 2009... Cambridge, Mass. -- At the annual IDTechEx Printed Electronics USA 2008 event, attendance was nearly 700 people from 22 countries. This event hosted the IDTechEx Printed Electronics Awards to recognize outstanding achievement, and the winners...

Hon Hai releases unaudited monthly sales.(The Wire)
February 1, 2009... Taiwan -- For November, Hon Hai reported nonconsolidated unaudited sales of TWD 134,898 billion, a year-over-year increase of 0.98 percent. For the first 11 months of 2008, accumulated unaudited sales were up 24.22 percent year-over-year to TWD...

Ucamaco appoints WKK as China distributor.(The Wire)
February 1, 2009... Gent, Belgium -- Ucamco appointed WKK its distributor for China. WKK will handle the full range of Ucamco's products, the SilverWriter and calibr8tor series of laser photoplotters, as well as the UCAM family of front-end software, the...

Innovative Circuits continues facility upgrade.(The Wire)(Brief article)
February 1, 2009... Alpharetta, Ga. -- Innovative Circuits, Inc., completed another major upgrade to its manufacturing facility. Upgrades include the installation of a HMS Hollmuller tin strip system with Tsunami fluid heads, two 160K RPM Hitachi Model ND-1S213E...

Mie GmbH and Excellon form partnership.(The Wire)(Brief article)
February 1, 2009... Rancho Dominguez, Calif. -- Mie GmbH and Excellon Automation formed a partnership for marketing and sales of the Cobra Laser Drilling and Machining Center in Europe, the Middle East, and Africa (EMEA). This partnership marks an important...

Mentor receives Corporate Award from IEEE Standards Association.(The Wire)
February 1, 2009... Piscataway, N.J. -- Mentor Graphics Corporation was honored with the IEEE Standards Association (IEEE-SA) 2008 Corporate Award in recognition of the company's "visionary leadership in bringing greater efficiency to the standards development...

Indium promotes Giasone to metals manager.(The Wire)
February 1, 2009... Clinton, N.Y. -- Indium Corporation promoted Emily Giasone to metals manager for the Metals, Chemicals, and Energy (MCE) Business Unit, where she will be responsible for purchasing and trading indium, gallium, germanium, and bismuth raw...

Artetch achieves Green Belt in quality training.(The Wire)(Glenn Wallington of Artetch Circuits recieves six sigma certification)(Brief article)
February 1, 2009... Littlehampton, West Sussex -- Artetch Circuits' production supervisor, Glenn Wallington, received his Six Sigma Green Belt. Wallington and eight of his colleagues received certificates after completing a TEC Concepts training course; Wallington...

Fine Lines in High Yield (Part CLXI): some health and effluent disposal considerations in PWB fabrication.(Tech Talk)
February 1, 2009... Tech Talk, to the best of my recollection, has never addressed the topic of workers' health and effluent disposal issues facing the PWB industry. This is not surprising because the theme "Fine Lines in High Yield" has no direct links to these...

What's ahead for flex circuits?(Flexible Thinking)(Column)
February 1, 2009... As this month's column is being written, the world is in a definite economic recession and possibly headed toward a depression. Things have been worse economically in the past around the globe but not in the lifetimes of most of the planet's...

Are better PCB design tools and manufacturing enough to stay competitive?(Cover story)
February 1, 2009... If you were to survey electronics companies today and ask what is driving business, you would likely get a very common set of answers. First, companies must get products designed and manufactured in time to hit very narrow market windows. In...

A strategy for hard times.(The Strategist)
February 1, 2009... Strategist: One skilled in strategy. Strategy: The art of devising or employing plans or stratagems toward a goal. From Merriam-Webster Dictionary. Times are hard for everyone right now. Most markets are down, the economy is down,...

A holiday mix.(Fein-Lines)
February 1, 2009... As I write this, we just celebrated Thanksgiving and are looking forward to the Chanukah and Christmas seasons. This is also a season of change and not just the kind of change that the followers of President-Elect Obama envision. There is...

The big deal over fine pitch assembly.
February 1, 2009... The role fine pitch surface mount (SM) devices play in subassemblies is considerably more critical now than ever before. At 20 mils (0.5 mm) or less, fine pitch demands a well thought-out and orchestrated balance involving PCB design,...

The lean toolkit, part 1.(View From the Middle)
February 1, 2009... The Lean Toolkit The lean toolkit is comprised of a set of tools that are used in support of the Six Sigma DMAIC process, which is an acronym for define, measure, analyze, improve, and control (Figure 1). While this toolkit is not all...

Global electronics food chain is in sync.(Market Outlook)
February 1, 2009... Growth rates throughout the global electronics industry food chain reflect the timing and severity of the current world recession. End market growth was negative in the U.S. and Japan and approaching zero in Europe and Taiwan/China by late...

Sunstone's IDF Plug-In for PCB123.(Technical Product Spotlights)
February 1, 2009... Sunstone Circuits' Intermediate Data Format (IDF) Plug-In is the first plug-in module for PCB123[TM] based upon the PCB123 V3.1 Software Developer's Kit (SDK). Sunstone's free IDF Plug-In enables PCB designers to import PCB designs for use in...

Automated vision control for L-Series pick and place systems from APS Novastar.(Technical Product Spotlights)(Brief article)
February 1, 2009... APS Novastar LLC's automatic vision control for its L-Series pick and place systems advances the already precise, fast, and reliable placement of 0201s with 100 percent accurate on-the-fly, bottom-up vision placement of micro BGAs and ultra...

Free online training videos from Altium.(Technical Product Spotlights)
February 1, 2009... Altium Limited's series of online training videos help engineers, regardless of experience, harness the power of programmable logic to explore concepts and develop next-generation electronic designs using Altium's Innovation Station. The videos...

Flexible heaters prototype design kit from Minco.(Technical Product Spotlights)
February 1, 2009... Minco's flexible heaters design kit lets you easily test and prototype a heater concept before starting on a journey of custom-built-to-order product. The kit includes Thermofoil[TM] flexible heaters, instructions, and technical data to help...

Low energy loss solar panel connector from Amphenol.(Technical Product Spotlights)
February 1, 2009... Amphenol Industrial's low-loss 4 mm Helios H4 connector for photovoltaic systems features a locking design to meet NEC 2008 and improved gasket materials to enhance reliability for long-term use in any environment. The connector includes a...

Vitronics' mySelective 6748 soldering system features a wave height measurement system.(Technical Product Spotlights)(Brief article)
February 1, 2009... Vitronics Soltec's high-throughput, full-featured mySelective 6748 Selective Soldering System now features a wave height measurement system, which ensures a specific predetermined wave height for every single PCB by automatically adjusting the...

TimingDesigner version 9.1 from EMA Design Automation.(Technical Product Spotlights)
February 1, 2009... TimingDesigner version 9.1 from EMA Design Automation[TM] adds support for SDC, which provides the ability to interface with FPGA and ASIC design flows. The upgraded TimingDesigner 9.1 takes another step in helping EMA's customers ensure their...

First rosin-free, no-clean, cored wire solder from Indium.(Technical Product Spotlights)
February 1, 2009... Indium Corporation's CW-501 is the first colophony (rosin)-free, no-clean, cored wire solder for use with Pb-free alloys. Indium adapted its solder paste technology for use in a cored wire solder to develop CW-501, which contains no rosin, a...

Nano versions of IGLOO(R) and ProASIC(R)3 FPGAs from Actel.(Technical Product Spotlights)
February 1, 2009... Actel Corporation's nano versions of its IGLOO(R) and ProASIC(R)3 FPGAs are targeted at high-volume, portable consumer markets. Actel takes power consumption down to as low as 2 microwatts and package size to as small as 3 x 3 mm; extends its...

Business Objects and valor partner to deliver dashboard solution.(Technical Product Spotlights)(Valor Computerized Systems Inc.)(Brief article)
February 1, 2009... Valor Computerized Systems will enable its customers to monitor their manufacturing operations in real time through simple, easy-to-use dashboards linked directly to the manufacturing floor. Integrating Business Objects' technology, Valor's...

Open Access-based SiGe process design kit from AWR and austriamicrosystems.(Technical Product Spotlights)
February 1, 2009... AWR and austriamicrosystems AG's Open Access-based process design kit (PDK) for austriamicrosystems' S35 0.35 [micro]m silicon germanium (SiGe) BiCMOS process technology is optimized for circuits operating up to 10 GHz and beyond. The PDK lets...

Amphenol rugged circular connector provides high current in both signal and power applications.(Technical Product Spotlights)(Amphenol Industrial Operations)(Brief article)
February 1, 2009... Amphenol Industrial's RoHS-compliant, rugged connectors provide up to 1,500 A in signal, control, and power applications. Star-Line EX connectors are typically used in harsh environments--such as wind farms, on- and off shore oil drilling, and...